Round Begin!
by DomoKnight
Summary: With a new game in town, the Cutie Mark Crusaders try to get their cutie marks in gaming. However the mysterious "SPA" thwarts them, can Applejack do better?


It was another day in Ponyville and Applejack was strolling through the town since she had some down time. "As much as I love bein' on the farm, I also enjoy walkin' around town" she said walking by Sugarcube Corner. She was going to go into the popular hot spot when she suddenly heard something from behind. "Awwww! I was so close too!" said a little voice with a southern accent, Applejack turned and found her little sister, Apple Bloom, playing a video game cabinet in the Cabinet Field.

"Hold on, I can do it", said the little orange pegasus, Scootaloo, trying to wrestle the controls from Apple Bloom. "You already had a turn! It's my turn!" exclaimed a little white unicorn, Sweetie Bell, also trying to wrestle the controls away also. All three were yelling and shouting which caused the other players to turn their heads. Applejack had seen enough and angrily stormed over to the video game cabinet were the three fillies were arguing. "Hold it!" she shouted which immediately stopped the fighting and all three fillies looked at Applejack. "Now what in the hay is goin' on here? Apple Bloom, did you check all the apples like I told you to?" Applejack said sternly.

"Of course I did sis, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell helped me and then we came down here. We were trying to get our cutie marks like we always do." Apple Bloom explained quickly. "For what, playing video games?" Applejack said quizzically. "Yeah we call it…" Apple Bloom said, then all three said very loudly, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER GAME GENIES!". Once again the gamers turned around angrily to see what the shouting was about and then they turned back around to continue their games.

Applejack had to wait for her ears to stop ringing till she could start talking. "Alright then, but why are you in such a fuss? There are dozens of games here, why are ya'll so focused on this one?" she asked. "You see," Sweetie Bell explained, "this is one of the new games and somepony already has a record score". Applejack got closer and inspected the cabinet, the game is called "The Last Roundup" (you move a pony around collecting barrels in a certain amount of time), the high score screen was up and the highest score was 1 million points with the nickname "SPA" next to them.

Applejack had never really taken notice of these videogames before but she had heard the fillies talking about them. "In any case, this is no reason to tear each other apart.", Applejack said sternly and began to walk away. "I bet Applejack could beat SPA." Scootaloo said. "Nah, it's too hard for her" Apple Bloom said slyly. Applejack took notice of this and immediately ran back to the three.

"What'd ya'll say?" Applejack asked in an agitated tone. "Well, you think these things are nothing but dumb. I think it's because you can't figure it out" Apple Bloom said slyly while all three looked at Applejack with sly eyes. "Please, it's nothing but buttons and noises. I can figure this out" Applejack scoffed as she walked up to the controls. She put a bit in and the game began with "Round Begin!", Applejack easily moved the pony and collected all the barrels. "Ha, easy," Applejack said confidently, "Round Begin!" the machine yelled again. "You want more do ya? Well then, let the games begin!" Applejack said eagerly.

Although it wasn't as easy as the first round, Applejack still made it and laughed to herself. She readied herself for the next round and the game began, however she started to have difficulties. The game suddenly yelled "Player loses! Play Again?", the CMC chuckled to themselves, Applejack snorted "My hoof slipped, let's try this again!" as she inserted another bit into the machine. This resulted in her spending all of her off time that day trying to beat the machine, but she was getting better.

Eventually a group formed around her when she was close to beating the high score, Applejack has little bags under her eyes from staring at the screen. "I knew I could make it. You fillies weren't trying hard enough." Applejack said with glee. The machine spoke again but it said something different, "It's the Last Roundup! SPA wishes to compete against you for the ultimate high score! Do you accept?". "How is that possible? There isn't another cabinet connected?" Applejack said worryingly, "These cabinets can hook up to each other wirelessly sis" Apple Bloom said.

"I've made it this far, I'm not going to stop now!" Applejack accepted the challenge and the game began. A second 8-bit pony appeared on screen and started to collect barrels against Applejack, the crowd was "ooh" and "awing" and cheering Applejack on. Applejack was sweating and feared she would break her hoof, the CMC were very tense but excited. This continued for a very tense five minutes till the game stopped, Applejack let out a very sharp breath. The game started to tally the scores, everyponies breath was held in to see if Applejack won.

"The winner is…", the game said, everypony was still tense. "SPA Wins!", the game loudly announced, everypony released their breathes and "awed" for Applejack. Applejack entered her name, APP, in the second highest score count. The crowd dispersed and Applejack was left with the CMC, "Ah well, sorry about that.", Applejack said. The CMC were excited though, "I can't believe you almost beat SPA, my own sister!", Apple Bloom said, "bet Rarity can't beat my sister's score.". "You're on!" Sweetie Belle said, then all three ran off.

Twilight Sparkle then came up carrying some books, "Hi AJ, what are you doing? I thought you don't play these games.". "We'll, I normally don't but the fillies were trying to beat it and I got hooked. I'd love to stay and chat but my eyes hurt like the dickens." Applejack said while blinking a lot. "What game were you playing?" Twilight asked, "The Last Roundup, though I wonder. Who is SPA?" Applejack said walking off to go lay down. Twilight waited till Applejack was out of sight and then pulled out a book that said "How to beat The Last Roundup", "Yeah, I wonder who", Twilight chuckled to herself.


End file.
